Circa Sports expanding to Northern Nevada casino
Circa Sports, the sports-wagering brand of the Circa Resort & Casino operation, is expanding to Northern Nevada later this year.
When Olympia Gaming’s Legends Bay Casino opens in Sparks in the summer, Circa Sports will operate the property’s sportsbook, the companies announced Tuesday.
Terms of the deal between Circa and Las Vegas-based Olympia were not disclosed.
“We had been in some discussions with other operators and not everything aligned, but when we ran into these guys, we thought, ‘Oh man, this is perfect,’” Circa owner Derek Stevens said in an interview Monday. “It’s a brand-new, from-the-ground-up casino. I jumped on a plane with my team and I knew within the first 10 minutes of meeting with their team and seeing their location, we looked at each other and said, ‘This is a done deal, let’s get to the details.’”
Stevens knows a little about the potential of constructing something from the ground up. After all, when Circa opened in October 2020, it was the first new downtown Las Vegas property built in 40 years.
Integrated into the Outlets at Legends shopping center and adjacent to the Sparks Marina, the new resort will be located off Interstate 80, just west of the Reno-Tahoe industrial corridor where the Tesla battery gigafactory and tech companies Switch and Google are located.
“The amount of growth of new homes and new apartment complexes in the area has been amazing. There’s something really cooking in this area,” Stevens said. “Sparks is a hot spot and this Legends Bay area is just awesome.”
‘Something really engaging’
Negotiations with Stevens and the Circa team began in 2021, said DeCourcy Graham, chief operating officer of Olympia Gaming.
“It was about a year ago that we started talking with them and I toured the (Circa) property and met with Derek and we were just so impressed with the project and specifically how front and central the sportsbook experience was,” Graham said. “We thought, ‘Wow, that would be something really engaging to have in Northern Nevada.’ ”
“The timing was right,” he said, noting Circa was looking to expand its sportsbook offerings and Olympia was seeking something new to offer customers up north.
“To have something different for the consumer in that market we thought was an important amenity versus having a typical leased-out sportsbook, and it gives a choice when it comes to (betting) lines and contests and all the other aspects.”
The sportsbook brand is accessible at Circa’s downtown sister properties, the Golden Gate and The D. Circa also operates sportsbooks at the Tuscany in Las Vegas and The Pass in Henderson. The Circa sports mobile app is available in Nevada, Colorado and Iowa.
‘We’re going to take big bets’
The Circa sportsbook in downtown Las Vegas is a three-story operation that has dazzled sports fans in the months that it has been open.
The companies have not disclosed how big the Legends sportsbook would be, but Stevens said it would be “a pretty good-sized book,” with a grill and steakhouse nearby and a food court.
“We’re going to run the book the way we run our other books. We’re going to take big bets, and I think we’re going to provide a lot of benefits to the sports gamblers of Northern Nevada,” Stevens said.
Garry Goett, chairman, CEO and president of Olympia Companies, has made a name for himself as a developer of master-planned and mixed-use properties.In August 2003, Goett opened Casino Fandango in Carson City.
“We are proud to partner with Circa to elevate the sports-betting experience at Legends Bay Casino opening this year,” Goett said.“This gives us a one-of-a-kind sports wagering offering and creates the premier sportsbook destination in Northern Nevada.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.